In systems such as file systems involving hundreds, thousands and even hundreds of thousands of individual files, it is usually difficult to locate, to keep track of, and to correctly enter or return a file in the file system. It is normal office management procedure with large file systems to appoint a person or persons to maintain the system. The person in charge looks after the pulling of files from the system, manually recording the file whereabouts while it is out of the system, and returning or refiling the files as they are received. That same person must also make corresponding manual entries in records to indicate the return of a file. As can be appreciated, these steps of maintaining a large system of files, indexes, etc. can become very tedious and timeconsuming tasks. The maintenance of such systems can become even more complicated if for some reason or another there is a misfile in the system.
To overcome these problems this invention contemplates providing a system in which each article of the system has a code consisting of a unique visually recognizable colour coded arrangement or combination of individual labels. Each such label has a machine readable marking peculiar to that label to facilitate machine reading of the code. Misfiles in this system are prominent due to a disruption in what would otherwise be a consistent pattern of colours along the edges of the coded articles in a system.